Neverupgrade

I can’t second this enough. I’m a dsg captain and commercial GC. The bs I have to deal with daily in my civilian gig is leaps and bounds worse than what I hear my AGR/Tech friends complain about. I know the grass is always greener, but I’m jumping on an AGR/Tech gig first chance I can.

Yes it’s a thing, and you better not burn the peños

I know you’re pretty focused on Alaska, but have you considered the ANG unit in Montgomery? F35s. Become a crew chief for them, stay close to home, get tech school and your bachelors done, then pursue a pilot slot in Alaska as an F35 crew chief, or, get picked up with Montgomery (being local is a huge boost to your UPT package btw). Plenty of opportunity later down the road to make that push to Alaska. The hardest part of getting a pilot gig in the ANG is getting the job first. Once you become a pilot, there are lots of opportunities for adventure whether permanent or temporary. In terms of time with aircrew as a maintenance dude, you’ll get plenty especially in an ANG unit. I’m a legacy 130 DSG, but I know most of our maintenance dudes by first name. Our crews chiefs in particular because they fly with us when we go on the road. Probably not the same experience in a fighter unit, but I can’t imagine it’s far off. ANG ops/mx groups are small enough that if you put in the time to be good at your job, you’ll know most everyone involved fairly quickly.

I’ve lurked here for years, never posted (or even made an account), but I had to after this thread. What corner of the ANG/ARC are you all in (genuine question)? In my corner, C-130H unit, we haven’t had regular orders for years. Our guys who planned to bum have all had to take full time jobs, most at the airlines but not all, due to lack of consistent orders, and minimal full time slots. We have new guys who may not get enough hours to upgrade to basic AC before they finish their UPT ADSC unless something changes. Plus, we only have 6 full time officers in our squadron. To add… y’all hiring? Asking for a friend, of course.